Today was the day. The orange pegasus knew it the second she woke up to the soft sound of her two friendsgentle snoring (or, in Appleblooms case, not so gentle). She was the first one awake. She attempted to get up with as little disturbance as possible, but it was difficult with Sweetie Belles hoof over her foreleg. As she began to stir, the unicorn fillys eyes cracked open opun the movement.
“Wazzat? Is it morning?” she mumbled. Upon seeing Scootaloo already awake, apperently before her, she fumbled with the blanket that had covered her all night and stretched. “Morning Scoots, is Applebloom up yet?” she queried as she finally slipped out from the blanket.
“I am now.” stated a very disgruntled Applebloom who was beginning to wipe the drowsiness from her eyes.
“Sorry Applebloom, but we have a whole new day of crusading to start on! Let`s head on down to the treehouse to see if any we can come up with some cutie mark worthy ideas.” Sweetie Bell said. Shortly after saying that, she hopped over to the door leading out of her room.
It was Sunday, and they had actively been trying to acquire their greatest goal; a cutie mark, all Saturday. They had tried everything from pogo-sticking to apple chucking- an idea that later got them into a mess of trouble with Applejack, and all they had ended up with was a couple of bruises and apple bits in their manes. Once they were out of ideas, they decided to retire at the Carousel Boutique for the night, owned and run by Sweetie Bell`s older sister, Rarity.
Deciding that she could wait until later to do what she had planned, Scootaloo ran down the steps (quietly of course, not wanting to disturb a certain white unicorn sleeping in the room down at the end of the hallway) stopping only briefly to open the door leading out of the boutique.
It was still very early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to peek around the range of mountains off to somewhere in the far East. The birds wern`t even chirping yet, and the only sign of life other than the trio of friends trotting towards the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres was a pink maned pony watering a patch of flowers. As they passed, she looked up from her garden.
“What on Equestria are three school-fillies doing out and about this early on a Sunday?”, she muttered to herself before resuming her task. What she didn`t know was that these were fillies on a mission, not just playing in the early morning.
Somewhere about a quarter of the way there, Applebloom skidded to a halt. Her friends stopped too late and crashing into her, rolling down the road in a giant tumble of pony. When they finally rolled to a halt, Scootaloo was the first to recover.
“What the hay did you do that for, Applebloom?” she yelled at the currently upside-down yellow earth pony, trying to get up. Sweetie Belle scrambled her way back up on her hooves and nodded in dizzy affirmation.
Applebloom got up and replied, “We forgot to go antell our sisters where we were goin!”
“Shes right”, added a slightly downtrodden Sweetie Belle.
“So do we go and tell them where we`re going, or keep going to the treehouse?” asked Scootaloo.
“Well, Im pretty sure that AJ would lemme go ancome up with ideas with yall, but I should probably tell her so she don`t get worried”, said Applebloom.
“Yeah, and I should go tell Rarity where we went so she doesn`t go crazy looking for us”, concluded Sweetie.
“Fine, we`ll all go and then meet back at the treehouse for some crusading, sound good?” concluded Scootaloo. The group nodded, and then all headed off. Applebloom walked off in the same direction as Sweetie Belle until the road split, and Scootaloo went the oppisite direction. Just as they reached the intersection where they would have to separate and walk to ther own houses, a thought occurred to Applebloom.
“Hey Sweetie Belle, do you ever wonder about Scootaloo`s family?” she inquired.
Sweetie thought for a minute, trying to find one time Scootaloo had ever talked about her parents, or something she might have seen to even tell her she had any idea. After finding nothing, she responded, “No. I can`t seem to remember anything she said about them. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason.” Applebloom said. And then the matter was forgotten, at least, for the time being.
Scootaloo, meanwhile, was trotting down the streets of central Ponyville, looking for a specific store. It was a store that was almost always open, even in the early hours of the morning. She went there every year on this particular day. She was lucky to get a chance like this, while her friends were out to tell their siblings where they were going, and she wasnt going to miss it. She walked halfway across Ponyville, which wasnt as long as you would think due to the size of Ponyville, but was still a tiring trek nevertheless. She soon started looking at the trees and bushes around town very intently, until she found what she was looking for. A slightly gnarled looking tree to the right of an overgrown hedge. It was also right next to her destination, the flower shop run by the three friends Daisy, Lily, and Rose.
Scootaloo pushed her head into the bushes, then the rest of her body followed, leaving only her tail sticking out of the bush as if she was eaten by it. I hope it`s still where I left it, she thought desperately. Please be there, please be there, please be there, yes! Under one of the twisted roots of the old, gnarled, tree was a small leather bag filled with a small amount of bits.
She reached in with her muzzle to try and reach it, but the roots seemed to have grown more reluctant over the past year to let her reach inside the twisted little nook. She tried harder, to the point where her muzzle was being scratched nearly to the point of bleeding, then gave up. She sighed in defeat. Now what? Oh yeah. Hooves, duh. She reached in carefully with a small hoof, and successfully pushed the little bag out of it`s hiding place. She picked it up with her mouth, then waltzed on over to the flower shop. Note to self, find a different hiding place to put this. She looked up as she approached the counter, and saw a pink coated mare with a lime green mane gazing questioningly at her antics. Definitely find a new hiding place.
“Hey there, Daisy, can I get a few moth orchids?” Scootaloo asked the flower pony behind the counter.
“Sure thing Scootaloo. So what`s it for this time? Are you giving it to somepony special?”Daisy asked deviously.
Scootaloo smiled a little. “I guess you could say that.” She gave Daisy four bits and in return got a small bouqet filled with fragrant white flowers. After depositing her bag of bits in a new hiding spot (under the bush next to the white bench, on the side of Quills and Sofas), she moved on to where she had gone every year since she was a small foal.
Back at the treehouse, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle sat waiting for Scootaloo`s return. They had decided to pass the time coming up with crusading ideas, and were currently stuck between Cutie Mark Crusaders Sailor Ponies and Cutie Mark Crusaders Grand Theft Auto (the game of course). They had both been there at least half an hour when Scootaloo arrived, and she came in with scrapes on her muzzle and it seemed as though her knees were about to buckle.
“What happened Scoots?” Applebloom asked as she helped coax an exhausted Scootaloo into the clubhouse. She laid down in the middle of the floor before responding.
“Oh, well you know, I was just out”, she replied evasively. This answer seemed to dissataify the other two fillies, who were currently sitting across from the pony in question and wearing neutral frowns.
“Scootaloo, where exactly did you go while we were asking our sisters?” asked Sweetie Belle who was currently somewhere in between concerned and curious.
“Nowhere. Since when were we doing Cutie Mark Crusaders Interrogate Scootaloo for Celestias sake?!” Scootaloo answered more cruelly than intended. Applebloom looked kind of hurt, while Sweetie Belle brightened at the new crusading idea. Scootaloo sighed once she realized she had yelled at her friends. “Im sorry girls, I didnt mean to snap, its just… maybe you`ll understand if I show you.”
Scootaloo told her friends to follow her, and led them out of the treehouse, and they began the long trek once again. They passed by parts of Ponyville they never even knew existed. They eventually reached a point where they didnt have any landmarks to go by, and didnt know any of the buildings that they saw. They continued their long trek in silence however, because even though Scootaloo had said nothing, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom knew that wherever she was taking them, it would be important.
Soon the sun was steadily climbing the sky, and more ponies were out and about, doing all the things that had to be done on a Sunday morning. Ponies were out shopping at the Hay-Mart, a farmer was plowing a field, and a couple fillies playing ball even asked if they wanted to play, but they told them that they might later. Finally, it appeared they had arrived at their destination.
It was an old fenced off area, with only a decorated gate allowing entrance to anypony who dared come in. A crow sat forebodingly on one of the nearest fencepost, just watching. All in all, the feel of the place was… foreboding, to say the least. The eerie silence of the place gnawed at the two fillies who had no idea where they were. As they made their way around some strangely shaped stones, Scootaloo stopped in front of two of these weird monuments. In front of the two side-by-side stones sat a pretty bouquet of orchids. It was only after they saw the single tear sliding down Scootaloo`s cheek that they realized what the signifigance of the grave was. The grave with the inscription. Then Scootaloo spoke.
“Mom, Dad, Happy Anniversary."
